Dump-wagon.



W. L. COLLINS.

DUMP WAGON. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, 1910.

Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

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UTED STATES PATENT oFFioE.

WILBUR L. COLLINS, OF NEWARK, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NEWARK WAGON GOM- PANY, OF NEWARK, NEW YORK, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

DUMP-WAGON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

"useful Improvements in Dump-Wagons, of

which the following, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, is a full,

clear, and exact description.

Th1s lnventlon relates to certaln lmprovevments in dump wagons preferably of the bottom dump type in which the box is provided with laterally swinging bottom doors and refers more particularly to the means for controlling the action of such doors.

In many of the dump wagons now in use, the door controlling mechanism involves the use of chains of greater or leSs length adapted to be wound and unwound upon and from a suitable drum or shaft which not only requires repeated operations in closing the doors but necessitates frequent adjust- 'ment of the chains to compensate for wear and consequent lengthening or stretching of the links of the chain.

' The main object of my present invention is to provide a simple and practical mechanism for closing the doors in a single operation from their extreme open or dumping 3o positions and at the same time permitting said doors to' open easily and quickly under the weight of the load or by their own gravity.

Another object is to provide means whereby the doors and their operating mechanism may be firmly held in their closed position independently of the hand-lever by which such mechanism is operated so that the lever may remain in its normal position during 40- to return the doors to their closed position.

the dumping operation ready for operation A still further object is to provide simple means for tripping the detent by which the door operating mechanism is held in position for closing the doors.

Otherobjects and uses will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings Figure 1-is a side elevation, partly in section, of the body portion of a dump wagon embodying the various features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the box or body showing particularly the door controlling mechanism, except the bell cranks and links. Figs. 3

and t are respectively front and rear end views of the box and adjacent portion of the door operating mechanism, the doors being shown in their closed positions. Fig. 5 is a front end view of the same mechanism shown in Fig. 3- except that the doors are open and the operating mechanism adjusted accordingly.

In carrying out the object stated I provide a dump box or body 1 with lateral swinging bottom doors 2 which are hinged at 3 to the sides of the box and are connected at each end near their meeting edges by links 4 and 5 to opposite arms of a bell-crank lever -6, the latter being connected by a link --7 to a crank-arm -8- on a rock shaft 9-. This rock shaft extends lengthwise of and close "to the inner face of one side (usually the right-hand side) of the box and beyond the ends thereof and is journaled in suitable bearings 10. The crank-arms -8 are rigidly secured to the opposite ends of the rock shaft just outside of the ends of the box as best seen in Fig. 2, where they are free from contact with any part of the load and are readily available for connection with the bell-crank levers -6 through the medium of the links 7-. The front end of this rock shaft extends some distance beyond the corresponding crank-arm 8- and is provided with a ratchet wheel 1land additional crank-arm or lateral olfset -12 both of which are rigid with the shaft, the ratchet wheel 11 being located near the adjacent crank arm 8-- and corresponding end of the box while the offset or crank-arm l2 is located near the front extremity of the shaft. A handlever -13 is loosely journaled upon the extreme front end of the shaft in close proximityto the ofiset 12 and normally rests by its own gravity in a pendant position, the crank-arm 12- being provided with a laterally projecting shoulder 14 in the plane of movement of the lever 13.

The doors are held in their closed position by a pawl -15- which engages or coacts with the ratchet wheel 11 and is secured to one end of a rock shaft -16, the front end of which is provided with a laterally projecting pedal lever 17- whereby the pawl or detent l5 may be tripped from its holding position to permit the doors to open by their own gravity or under the weight of the load for the purpose of discharging such load.

When the doors are in their closed posi tion, the handle l3 drops by its own gravity to the limit of its downward movement against the shaft -16 or against any other suitable abutment While the crank-arm l2- normally projects upwardly above the axis of the shaft 9, leaving a predetermined space between the shoulder or abutment -14 and inner side of the lever l3- suflicient to permit the desired rotation of the shaft '9- and consequent full opening of the doors -2. This shoulder or abutment 14: therefore coacts with the through the medium of the bell-crank levers 6 and their connections with the rock shaft and said doors, whereupon the pawl 15- is rocked into its holding position in engagement with the ratchet wheel -11- to hold this rock shaft against retrograde movement and thereby hold the doors closed.

The bell crank levers 6 are pivoted at 18 to the outer faces of opposite ends of the box so that their axes are in direct alinement with each other, both of said levers being of substantially the same construction, thereby permitting the use of similar links -4-, 5 and -7- at 0pposite ends of the box. The links 4- and .-5- at each end of the box are pivotally connected to their respective doors and to opposite arms of the corresponding lever -6 while the links --7 are pivotally connected to one of the arms of each lever and to the corresponding crank-arm -8. It is therefore apparent that aside from the shaft operating and holding devices, the connections between the rock shaft and opposite ends of the doors are duplicated at each end of the box so as to operate the doors simultaneously and uniformly at both ends.

The detent l5- is normally retained in its holding position by means of a spring 19 which has one end connected with the side of the box and its opposite end eccentrically connected to the foot lever 17- at a point beyond the adjacent end of the shaft 16 so as to swing to opposite sides of the axis of movement of said foot-lever, thereby yieldingly holding the detent in either of its extreme positions. It will also be observed that the links -7- are connected to their respective bell-crank levers 6 in such manner as to always lie above the fulcrum of said lever, thereby preventing a dead-lock, particularly in closing the doors from their open positions.

As previously stated, the hand-lever -13- is allowed to normally gravitate downwardly until it reaches the limit of its movement in this instance against the rock shaft -=16 while the crank-arm 12 normally assumes an upwardly inclined position with sufiicient distance between the shoulder 14 and inner edge of the lever to allow the doors to drop to theirfull open position at which time the shoulder 14 encounters the front edge of the lever. It is now evident that the doors may be brought to their closed position by a single upward movement of the hand-lever -13 which is then in engagement with the lug or shoulder 14 thereby restoring. the crankarm l2 and rock shaft to normal position, it

being understood that the foot lever 17- v has been previously operated either by the hand or foot to throw the pawl or detent 15 into holding engagement with the ratchet wheel 1l.

When the doors are closed in the manner just described, the hand-lever is allowed .to return by gravity to its normal position. When it is desired to dump the load from the box it is simply necessary for the operator to place the foot against the lever 1'1 and depress the same sufliciently to throw the pawl or detent 15 from its holding position and if necessary the foot lever may be depressed sufficiently to throw the corresponding end of the spring to'the opposite side of the axis to hold the pawl from accidental engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel during the dumping operation.

What I claim is:

A dump wagon comprising a box having laterally-swinging bottom doors, upwardly extending bell crank levers at. each end of and having their fulcrums eccentrically disposed with respect to the ends of the box, a pair of links connecting each of the bell cranks to said doors, the links of each pair crossing each other, a longitudinally-extending rock-shaft at one side of and greater length than the box, crank arms projecting from said shaft, and a link connection between each of said crank arms and one of the arms of each of the bell cranklevers, and

releasable means for rocking the shaft in'one direction.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 15th day of September 1910. WILBUR L. COLLINS. Witnesses:

H. E. CHASE, M. ANDR WS,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

